Instituto Superior Técnico


Instituto Superior Técnico MHSE • MHIP is a public school of engineering and technology, part of University of Lisbon. It was founded as an autonomous school in 1911, and integrated in the Universidade Técnica de Lisboa in 1930. IST is the largest school of engineering in Portugal by number of enrolled students, faculty size, scientific production and patents.
IST has three campi, all located in the Lisbon metropolitan area: Alameda in Lisbon, Taguspark in Oeiras and Tecnológico e Nuclear Campus in Loures, and consists of ten departments that are responsible for teaching the undergraduate and postgraduate programs. Each department is organized in sections, which group together specific subjects within its scientific area. In addition, the laboratories of the several departments support the teaching and research activities carried out at IST.
It offers 18 undergraduate programmes attended by more than 6,000 students—covering a wide range of areas of knowledge—including not only all the traditional engineering specializations, but also emerging scientific areas such as Biomedical Engineering, Aerospace, and Physics Engineering. Over 4,500 students are enrolled in 32 masters, 33 doctoral and several specialized programs. IST has produced 1292 PhD holders.

History

Instituto Superior Técnico was created in 1911 from the division of the Instituto Industrial e Comercial de Lisboa, along with Instituto Superior do Comércio, currently Insituto Superior de Economia e Gestão. Alfredo Bensaúde, an engineer, was IST's first dean and promoted a wide-range reform in the Portuguese higher technical education, including the first engineering courses at IST: mining, civil, mechanical, electrical, and chemical-industrial. IST's second dean was Duarte Pacheco, also an engineer, who was responsible for the construction of the campus at Alameda, designed by architect Porfírio Pardal Monteiro. Meanwhile, IST became part of the recently created Technical University of Lisbon. Throughout the following decade, the image of engineers from IST was projected into major engineering works, promoted by Duarte Pacheco, who was by the time Minister of Public Works.
Between 1952 and 1972, 12 study centres were established in Portugal, three of them at IST, in the fields of chemistry, geology and mineralogy, and electronics. These centres were responsible for promoting faculty training and scientific qualification through doctoral studies in universities and research centres abroad. In 1970, the minimum period for obtaining a bachelor's degree decreased from six to five years, and IST denoted a remarkable increase of the number of students. During this period, scientific research at IST increased significantly, through the creation of the Complexo Interdisciplinar which fasten together various autonomous research units, and contributes to transform IST in a reference school at European level.
In the 1990s, new degrees were created in cutting-edge engineering areas, including master and doctoral programmes. In 2001, IST inaugurated a new campus in the municipality of Oeiras, located in Taguspark, the first Portuguese science and technology park, which is home for more than 120 technology-based companies. In the academic year of 2006-2007, the Declaration of Bologna was successfully implemented for all IST programmes, aiming the establishment of a European Education Area to make Europe a competitive knowledge-based economy.
Today IST is involved with several of Portugal's R&D&I and technology transfer institutions and offers a vast number of degrees in science and engineering areas, at undergraduate, master and doctoral levels. IST is also part of several networks and international programmes to promote student mobility, both at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. Through a large number of agreements with other institutions worldwide, it participates in more than 20 Dual Master programmes, and joint PhD programmes with MIT, CMU, UT-Austin and EPFL.

Teaching

As of 2019, IST offers undergraduate and graduate studies in:
IST is also actively involved in several networks and international programs to promote student mobility, both at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. Through a large number of agreements with other institutions worldwide, IST participates in more than 20 Dual Master programs, and joint PhD programs with MIT, CMU, UT-Austin, and EPFL.

Affiliations

IST is a member of several academic and scientific consortiums and associations, including:
IST is among the most productive engineering schools in Europe, according to a 2019 ranking..

Locations and facilities

Currently IST has three campi:
IST benefits from an IBM supercomputer built in 2007, which is one of the most powerful in Portugal.

Notable alumni

IST alumni have held prominent positions in both the private and public sectors of Portuguese society, including several businesspeople, politicians, three Prime Ministers of Portugal, one of which became Secretary-General of the United Nations.